Greeting cards

Description

The Greeting Card series contains more than 250 greeting cards received by Abigail B. Homer and other members of her family throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Cards include birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, get well, graduation, party invitations, and others. Also included is a letter written by the donor providing background on the family and her impressions of the cards regarding their style, paper, pictures, and humor. Other items included in the collection are a newspaper clipping from 2008 about how greeting cards have changed in recent years, notes from the donor about the cards jotted on envelopes or sheets of paper, and a Lovell & Covel chocolates box in which the donor sent the first batch of greeting cards to Historic New England.

These cards are different from what are seen in shops at the beginning of the 21st century. The artwork is often more cute in style and some look like copies of hand-painted images. Notably apparent, however, are several cards with African-American images and written in a way to denote African-American speech or slang.